David uses questions to expose the self-evident guilt of corrupt judges, forcing them to confront their perversion of justice. By asking rather than declaring, he places the burden of acknowledgment on the judges themselves, making their corruption undeniable. The interrogative form sharpens the indictment, demanding these authorities face the chasm between their calling and their conduct.

The psalm provides the answer in verse 2: ‘No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.’ The judges do not speak or judge righteously but actively perpetrate injustice.

David’s dual questions pierce the facade of judicial respectability with devastating clarity. The Hebrew construction demands a negative answer; these judges manifestly do not decree righteousness or judge uprightly. By framing condemnation as inquiry, David exposes the absurdity of their position: authorities appointed to speak God’s justice have become instruments of oppression. The term ‘gods’ (elim) echoes Psalm 82, where human judges bear divine titles because they exercise God’s delegated authority, making their corruption not merely criminal but blasphemous. David chooses questions over declarations to let their guilt speak for itself. The interrogative form creates unbearable tension between what these judges should be and what they have become, driving home the theological catastrophe of perverted justice in a covenant community.